


after the storm

by fluffy_papaya



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/F, Slow Updates, a bit outside my normal bit but hey, god I’m gay for Carlotta, honest love and communication, lifes meaningless without a few fuck you’s to the norm, multi chaptered, ’i love you but please go save the world’
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 12:40:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21816958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffy_papaya/pseuds/fluffy_papaya
Summary: Carlotta might not have been looking for a man- but she found a woman. An Imperial, like her. One who took Mila in as her own child, who fed them and gave them another family member, who protected them from harm.It’s a bit of a shame she’s lied to Carlotta, but as long as she saves the world she’ll forgive Sade.
Relationships: Female Dovahkiin | Dragonborn/Carlotta Valentia
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23





	1. Evaporation

The first time bandits tried to raid their home, Carlotta was not afraid. 

The chief had held a knife to her throat and whispered into her ear about how he was going to slit it if she didn’t open the lockbox- and, well, their family lived by one rule. 

Her tanned hands had carefully pulled the key from it’s place under the display case, turning it in the lock and hearing the box open. 

Carlotta turned back to the bandit chief with a straight line for a mouth, eyes hardened as she saw the shadow sneaking into the bedroom. “There. All yours.”

“Smart woman.” He taunted, and the vendor wanted nothing more than to gore him with the horns on his own helmet. “Unfortunately, we cant have any witnesses- no hard feelings.”

“I have quite a few feelings.”

The bandit didn’t have a second of reaction time before a sword was poking through his throat, decapitating him and spewing blood on the carpet. 

Carlotta wrinkled her nose and sat on the edge of the cabinet, hoisting her skirts around her feet. “Darling.”

“Sorry, Cara.” Her wife seems sincere enough, and that’s good enough for Carlotta, the merchant’s fingers tense as she grabs onto the dresser. 

“Where-“

“Mila and Sofia are outside with Lydia.” Her wife steps forward, sheathing her bloody sword. “They’re alright. Not even a bruise.” A pause. “Why don’t you go see them while I donate this charming man to the necromancer right down the hill?”

Carlotta had not been afraid of the bandits, and she wasn’t afraid of necromancers, and she wasn’t afraid of the bloodlust in Sade’s eyes, the other Imperial looking like a horror story. 

Carlotta raised her chin and decidedly leant forward, giving her wife a quick kiss, grimacing slightly at the blood that had splattered there- or maybe Sade had taken a bite out of one of the bandits, she wouldn’t put it against the warrior- before pulling back with a self satisfied smirk. 

“You’re mopping up the blood as well.”

“That does seem fair.” Sade mumbled. “Want to take Mila and Sofia to Whiterun? You can stay in the other house for the night, let me take care of any remaining bandits around.”

“We’ll take the carriage.” Carlotta promises before she hops over the head and pool of blood, grabbing her small pouch of coins for her daughters and herself. 

She could feel Sade’s piercing grey eyes on her back, smirking as she turned around and blew a kiss to her wife.

Sade gave her a smile before leaning down to pick up the bandit’s head. 

One rule had covered their beautiful little family well enough. 

As long as they were alive, they had a chance. 

  
  


The second time bandits invaded their home, Carlotta was not there- she was in the small townhouse in Whiterun with their daughters and their housecarl, Lydia gently bringing the news to her as she let the children each have a piece of jewelry from Fralia. 

An empty house with no torchlight in the windows, but the door already open. 

It drug out any remaining bandits in those hills, and drug them straight into the path of a wicked sword and a dangerous woman. 

Apparently the necromancer had been so happy she proposed to Sade on the spot. 

Her wife snuck into bed that night when the kids were long asleep and Carlotta was on the way there, humming as she felt warmth press at her back, arms wrapping around her body. 

“Hello, dear.”

“Hi, Cara.” Sade pressed a kiss to her neck, her wife arching her back at the gentle touch. “I got rid of them.”

“Lydia told me.” She wriggled around, the furs on top of them so warm- but still not as warm as Sade- as she faced her wife. “I’m very proud of you.”

The Imperial gave her a wild grin, hands brushing over her stomach. “You are?”

“Of course I am.” Carlotta gave a tiny kiss to the end of her wife’s nose. “You killed the bandits who tried to take out house, you saved the kids, and you rooted out the rest of the vermin.”

“And I got proposed to.”

“And that.” Carlotta laughed, shaking her head. “And here I thought I was the irresistible vixen of the town.”

“You were.” Sade teased as she grabbed her lover’s hand, brining the silver ring up to her smeared red lips and pressing a kiss to it. “And then I came along and no one could resist my charm.”

“We all saw you pickpocket Nazeem.”

“You didn’t see shit.”

“Language.”

“The kids are asleep.” Sade laughed, linking their fingers together. “And you’re one to talk, I heard you swore Mikael up a storm the first time I came to Whiterun.”

“You didn’t hear shit.” Carlotta parroted, tucking Sade’s head under her chin, wrapping their legs together, enjoying the warmth her wife gave off. “Go to bed, dear. We’ll go home sometime tomorrow.”

  
  


The third time bandits take their home it’s not bandits- it’s a bright green dragon that soars over the mountain with an ear-splitting roar when Mila and Sofia are out doing their chores. 

Carlotta feels her heart stop in fear- not when the dragon roars, but when both of her daughters scream. 

Sade is already sprinting down the staircase, drawing her two swords and yelling for Carlotta and Lydia to get the children inside, and her wife has a sudden realization- that Sade plans to fight that thing, that her beautiful, stunningly stupid wife plans to fight an omen of the End Times. 

But Lydia (damn the housecarl and her sensibleness) grabs Carlotta and shoved her towards the door, ushering the kids in as quick as possible, their young faces fearful. 

Sofia grabs her mother’s hand. 

“What about Mama?!”

“My Thane can handle herself.” Lydia assures the child, sending Carlotta a look. “Trust her.”

Carlotta grits her teeth and looks one last time towards where Sade is slicing at the hind legs, the overgrown lizard snapping at her before flames lick at the edge of it’s teeth. 

Lydia pulls her inside and shuts the door before the flames leave the beast’s mouth. 

The four of them wait in silence, Lydia leaning on the wall by the door, listening to the screams from outside. Carlotta can’t tell if they’re the dragon’s or Sade’s, and her mind conjures a few different ideas of what is what out there. 

Mila and Sofia hold each other, and Carlotta holds them on the bed in the entryway, staring at Lydia and the door. 

“Ma?” Sofia asks, deathly quiet. “Has Mama fought dragons before?”

Carlotta looks at Lydia- the housecarl had traveled with her wife long before this. And apparently knew more than her. 

“Do you girls know old Nord legends?” Lydia asks, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Have you heard of the Dragonborn?”

Carlotta stiffens- her hands tighten in the furs on the bed. 

“Those are just legends, Lydia.” She says sharply. “I’ve been hearing them as long as I’ve been in Skyrim.”

“Dragons have returned, my Lady.” Lydia gestured to the door, and right on time there’s a screech of pain. “Those were legends months ago.”

“Is Mama a Dragonborn?” Mila asks curiously, and Carlotta curses under her breath- she’s above fairytales and the things of dreams. 

But Lydia winks at the young girls, smiling when she hears another screech of pain from outside. “Would you like to see?”

“Lydia, don’t open the door-“ Carlotta demands, but her housecarl has already flung them open, giving them a glorious, near holy view of Sade. 

She’s standing on the dragon, plunging her sword into it’s head as it screams in pain, but the Imperial doesn’t let up, plunging the sword into the thing’s mouth from the snout, jumping off and somersaulting towards the house. 

Her head snapped to the open doors, red lips parted in shock at seeing her family watching. 

The dragon corpse crashes into the dirt, sending up a dust cloud before the scales start to burn. 

Bright. 

Hot. 

Decay. 

Carlotta watches as the flames coalesce into a stream of orange, yellow, and blue flames, the light being sucked towards her wife- who arches her back in near ecstasy as the flames swirled around her armor, fading into her skin before a particularly thick mass of the flames entered over her heart. 

If Carlotta has thought Sade’s eyes were breathtaking before, if was nothing when she lowered her head back down and stared at her wife. 

Ash. Brimstone. Volcanic glass. Stone. Unyielding mountains and untroubled stormclouds. 

Such a piercing grey in such a small human body. 

“Um.” Sade said, and broke the ethereal spell in the mountain pass, her eyes just as grey as old bones. “I can explain.”

Carlotta’s lips thin, and her daughters run forward to ambush their Mama, Sade breaking into a small grin as Sofia jumps onto her waist and Mila wraps her arms around the Imperial’s legs. 

“That was so awesome, Mama!” Sofia shouted. “What did you do to that mean old dragon? Did you kill it?”

“I heard stories about the Dragonborn!” Mila excitedly follows up. “You ate their soul! How do you eat a soul? Do you use a fork?” 

Sade’s eyes meet Carlotta’s, the mirth disappearing. “Girls... how about you two go for a trip, alright? I’ll answer everything when you get back,” she’s quick to soothe when the girls look on the edge of a tantrum. “But why don’t you go to Riverwood with Lydia? Say hi to Uncle Faendal?”

“Awww, Mama.” Mila complains, but lets go of her legs to skip over to Lydia, grabbing the guard’s hand. “You promise?”

“Of course I do.” Sade beams at her daughter, a brief look of hesitation crossing her face before she puts a finger over her lips. “Let’s play a game while we’re at it- don’t tell anyone but Uncle Faendal that Mama is the Dragonborn, okay?”

“I can keep a secret!” Sofia squeals in delight, smooching a wet kiss to her Mama’s cheek before hopping off of her, also rushing to Lydia. “I can be the best secret keeper in all of Skyrim!”

“I know you can.” Sade says, nodding at Lydia. “Be good, girls.”

Carlotta still hasn’t moved from the door, but waved goodbye to her daughters and Lydia as they take the carriage, the horse turning the corner and Carlotta turning on her now-meek wife. 

“House.” She hisses, watching Sade shrink back. “Now.”

Her wife isn’t stupid enough to disobey. 

  
  


“You are the Dragonborn.” Carlotta hisses, Sade slunken into her chair like a wet cat. “You are the Dovahkiin. The one who is destined to save us all from a dragon eating the world- how the hell are you going to manage that, Sade?”

“I’m not incapable, Cara-“

“You don’t get to Cara me right now.” Carlotta points an accusing finger, and she might as well have cast a paralyzation spell with the frozen expression on Sade’s face. “You know you are going to be facing a god of dragons, and you still married me. You still had children- you took my child in like yours and brought Sofia home, and you apparently did not think about what will happen when you do not come home.”

“You don’t sound like you have faith in me, Carlotta.” Sade says softly- no anger to her tone. If Carlotta is grateful for one thing about her wife it is she never raises her voice at family. “Please- sit down. You’re right. You deserve an explanation.”

“I demand to know how you plan to save the world when I saw you pull a dwarven greatsword on an ant.”

“It’s a work in progress.” Sade mutters, her fingers digging into the grain of the table- and Carlotta loses her breath for a second when she thinks she sees claws. 

But it is just her wife, with her normal hands. 

“Start from the beginning.” She instructs, and Sade chokes out a laugh. 

“My beginning? I was waiting for the Empire to cut off my head and the one dragon I am destined to devour saves me.” She stands, hands digging into her eyes. “How’s fire and death for a beginning?”

“It sounds like an ending.”

“You get it.” Sade nods. “My life is a backwards half-lie. Forgive me for marrying you. Forgive me for making my own fate.”

Carlotta sits Sade back down, walking out to the kitchen to grab the apple pie she had been making for the girls, instead grabbing a slice for each of them. 

Sade manages a smile, looking up at her wife. “Are you mad at me?”

“I am furious.” Carlotta said, crisp as the skin of a winter apple. “But I still love you, and I am someone who listens to reason and thought over my own furious heart.”

“I’d say you’re a tad better than most the folks in Skyrim.”

“Sade.” Carlotta laughs. “I am so obviously the best. Now tell me everything or this fork ends up in your soul eating mouth.”

It is three hours later when Sade leaves and Carlotta waves her goodbye, promises still on the tips of their tongues and their feet aching to bring them together again. 

But Carlotta swore her wife to a promise, sealed with a kiss and a locket with nirnroot inside- it is a once in a lifetime chance this will be able to grow. 

But they are alive. And so Sade has a chance to save the world. 

“Sade.” Carlotta has whispered. “Sade, my beautiful thunderstorm. I love you but you are not to set one foot in this house until you save Tamriel.”

“I think I can do that. Can I have another kiss?”

Carlotta had agreed, and that was that- and the lonely wife took a deep breath before she grabbed her own bag, locked the door and headed to Riverwood.


	2. Condensation

Life is anything but quiet. Some might see that as a good thing- it means there’s never a dull moment, and a life that is often short is at least filled with memories. Some might see it as a setback- who wants a life where you never have a break, where you barely even have a moment to eat and sleep. 

Sade sees it as neither good nor bad.

She sees it as Life- sure, it’s a fucking insane life and she’s like 70% sure she’s been tripping on skooma ever since she made it into Skyrim (how else would she get a wife?), but it’s still Life. 

And Life is currently talking to a dragon at the Throat of the World.

“I don’t know what to expect when I go to Sovngarde.” Sade admits, her hands tracing Paarthurnax’s words in the snow. “The life after death... it sounds beautiful, but I I’ve been tricked before.”

“Dovahkiin, I wish I could come with you.” The old dragon mumbles. “Aak, to guide. But I cannot- not for lack of aal, wishing.”

“I know, Paarthurnax.” Sade whispers. “I appreciate it. But I know it’s my fight.”

“You have ahkrin, Dovahkiin. I do not look forward to losing fron- kin, if either of you lose.”

“Neither of us can win, neither of us can lose.” The Imperial laughs, wiping a frozen tear from her cheek. “I should probably go- got a world to save, after all.”

Paarthurnax lets her get to the first bit of ice back down before he sighs heavily, climbing on top of the word wall. 

“Dovahkiin.”

Sade turns back, hair whipping angrily in her face as the breeze comes back, the Throat of the World moaning for a voice of it’s own. 

“If. If dez requires for Alduin diivon- for you dilon. Who would you like to tell your bron- your clan and family?”

“You.” Sade said instantly, unsheathing her sword as she nods. “If you would be willing. If not... then the Greybeards. Thank you, bron.”

“Do not let him take you so easily, Dovahkiin.”

“I won’t.” Sade turned away from the dragon, starting the trek down the mountain. “I promise.”

There’s a lot to take care of- so does it when you are planning your death and lead the Thieves Guild and the Companions. 

Honor and thieves do not usually go together, but neither do dragon souls and human bodies. 

“I’m trusting you with my key.” Sade mutters to Vex over a glass of firebrand wine, slipping the thing into the woman’s pocket so fast even Vex herself barely sees it. “Delvin is the Guild Master if I fail, but I trust you. I have a chest hidden in the steps of the temple to Mara, and everything in there should be enough to hold you all off for at least a month.”

“Holding off on us, you greedy bastard?” Vex’s tongue, as always, is as sharp as the dagger by her side as she takes a sip of her whiskey. “None of that better belong to us.”

“Nah. All pickpocketed in my free time, or stolen before I met you.” Sade brushes her hair out of her eyes. “20000 gold. I had Madesi value each item.”

There is greed in Vex’s eyes as she lightly runs her finger over where Sade put the key. But thieves don’t steal from each other, and the other Imperial nods stoutly. 

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t run dry for a while.”

“I’ll owe you from beyond the grave.”

Sade doesn’t know if Carlotta is in the city- and she doesn’t take the chance, howling under the light of a barely there moon outside the gates of Whiterun, waiting under a reddish wolf slinks up to her side, rumbling.

The two run and play for a bit, nipping at each other like siblings until Sade tosses Aela into the river and a grumpy huntress comes out. 

“Sister.” She announces, wringing the water from her hair as Sade manages to laugh in her beast form. “You have learned, and I dearly wish you hadn’t.”

The dark brown wolf gives a toothy grin, sitting on the riverside as Aela joins her, slender fingers brushing through soft fur. 

“Something is on your mind, Sister.”

A mournful keen, Sade dipping her head. 

And bless Aela- sweet, fierce, so loyal Aela who spends enough time in her own beast form she understands perfectly. 

“Death is on your mind.”

A furry body leans into hers, Sade twisting around her fellow hunter with a sigh, staring up at the oh so bright sky. 

“Your death?”

Sade answers by shrinking back into her normal form- it feels so suffocating for a second, but the woman clears her throat and her body is her own and not her wolf’s. 

“There is a high chance I am going to die soon, Aela.”

The fingers braiding her hair stop. 

“Harbinger-“

“Don’t.” Sade says, still staring at the stars. “Don’t try to find a solution- it’s fate, and we all know that is something I am terrible at avoiding.”

The huntress nods, holding back tears and listening. 

“If I die, you are to be Harbinger. I have my will for the Companions in my safe.” Sade hands over a small golden key. “There’s gold in there too, and some armor I think you would love.” 

Aela takes the key and tucks it into her small satchel, wisely not saying a word. 

“Try and spread the Circle- you’ll see who I think is best when you read my will. Lead with honor, and compassion, Sister.” Sade links their fingers with a smile. “I can see questions in your eyes, Aela. I might not be able to answer a few, but I will what I can.”

“Who has fate chosen to send you to Sovngarde?”

“Alduin- but we shall fight in Sovngarde, rather than this realm.”

“Shor’s bones.” Aela squeezes her eyes shut. “When?”

“Around two weeks- I still have business to take care of.”

“And why, Sister?” Aela’s whisper is pained with loss, and Sade has to keep up her strong facade- if she loses it in front of Aela, she’ll never be able to face her fate. “Why does fate decide to take you from us now? I would rather never know you than know the pain of losing you.”

Sade doesn’t have an answer for that- just grabbing Aela’s hand tightly as the huntress curses the stars and the gods behind them. 

Cicero. Tolfdir. Isran. They all receive letters in the quiet of the night, carefully scripted letters with destiny in the ink. 

Sovngarde does not welcome Sade. 

There is no fanfare, no parade, no banners or confetti or cake celebrating the Dragonborn entering their realm- there is just silence, and there is fog, and the purple and blue sky so far above her only taunts her with it’s beauty. 

Sovngarde does not welcome their hero with open arms- Shor himself challenges the woman to a fight, and even if he demands that is the way, Sade can’t help but feel it’s one more jab from Fate, one more taunt before her battle. 

When Sade opens the doors to the Hall of Sovngarde, there is no noise. Heroes of legend and myth watch her stagger to Kodlak Whitemane, the man’s arms coming around her in a soothing hug. 

“It’s alright, Sade Wanderlust.” He murmurs, gold light seeping from every pore in his body. “You’re safe in our hall.”

“They miss you.” She sobs, hands like claws as they tear at his armor. “I don’t know how to lead, Kodlak.”

“We can discuss that later.” He promises. “You have a dragon to kill.”

“I don’t want to.” She cries. “I’m not meant to be a hero.”

But Sovngarde is a hall for the dead, and so they do not listen to the pleas of the living. Especially not one so closely tied into their own hope for existence. 

Three ghostly warriors and Sade cut and slice at Alduin, burning tears on the Dragonborn’s face as she Shouts and Shouts and Shouts with no end, Words of Power tearing at her throat as she chokes each syllable out. 

She would rather fight this battle with friends. Not warriors from centuries ago she doesn’t know. 

In the end, it’s a dinky iron dagger that ends Alduin’s life- it’s what Sade flicks into her hand when Chillrend is knocked from her grasp, and it’s what sinks into the dragon’s mouth when he comes down to bite her. 

His teeth still pierce her armor. 

But her dagger still slices his throat from the inside out. 

Locked, in battle- maybe a little more physically than their prophecy intended. 

“Why bother to fight, Dovahkiin?” Aludin rumbles as blood seeps between his scales. “We know I am destined to eat the world.”

“And I’m destined to stop you from doing that.” Sade huffs, digging the dagger deeper as fangs pierce harder into her skin. “Just die- let the next Dragonborn deal with you.”

There’s a laugh from the black dragon as he chokes on his own life. 

“Nikrinn.” He hisses. “Munax nikriin, zu’u fen lahney, ahrk zu’u fen du. Zu’u los Alduin!”

“You can shove your nikriin up your scaly ass.” Sade grins, far too sharp to be human- or even wolf. 

Dragon. 

Red eyes go wide, and Alduin screams. 

Sade squeezes her eyes shut as darkness- bright darkness that hurts her eyes to try to look through- floods across Sovngarde. 

Sade wakes up and is greeted with a sharp grin from Mehrunes Dagon. 

So naturally, she punches him in the face. 

And screams. 

Loudly. 

The Prince doesn’t look too bothered, throwing his head back with a hearty laugh- not his real head, thank god, but the form he’s chosen to manifest in to talk to Sade for whatever goddamn reason. 

“She’s awake!” He booms. “Let’s rip her legs off slowly!”

There’s a mad cackle to her right, and Sade twists off the bed (?) she’s laying on, falling straight to the stone ground. 

“Sheogorath?” She asks weakly, the Prince of Madness giving her an obscene gesture as a thumbs up. 

“The one and only, deary! But it would be no fun to rip off your legs! I say we...” He trails off, leaning heavily on Mehrunes Dagon. “Drill a hole in your head! Oh, that’ll be so much fun! Drill a hole in your head and drop teensy tiny worms in there so they can control you instead!”

There’s a smack, and both Princes are shoved to the side to make way for the brightest like Sade has ever seen in her life- but it’s warm, and it fills her with the feeling of life. 

“Hello, Dawnbreaker, Champion of Merida.” Merida mutters, inspecting Sade’s face- her wings so bright as they spread behind her. “I hope the journey wasn’t too rough on your poor, weak, breakable, and pathetic mortal body.”

Sade instantly remembered why she hated Merida.

“What the hell?” Sade mumbled, pushing away from the Daedric Prince. She thuds back into what she thinks is the bed- but that’s gone, made way for a beautiful white stag, Hircine staring at her beadily. 

“Huntress.” He says formally, and Sade is so tired, so confused, so utterly done with everything. 

“My lord.” She says back, hands hanging loosely at her sides- her sword is in her sheath, her amor perfectly unbroken on her. “What... where am I?”

The Lord of the Hunt scoffs before looking past her, Sade following his gaze to the beautiful woman standing oh so still in the shadows. 

She finally realizes where she is as the stag behind her starts to talk again. 

“You didn’t prepare her for this?”

“She doesn’t need to.” Nocturnal gently strokes the head of one of her ravens as she floats closer, the ruined tower of Helen long abandoned, long dead. “I trust my little guardian- she knows what will happen, give her a moment.”

There’s a slithering sound behind the Dragonborn, a rotted hand grabbing her cheeks, bony and bloody fingers squeezing. 

“We do not have moments.” Namira rasps. “We have wasted time, and we have doubts.”

“Yes, thank you for that.” Nocturnal sighs huffily, wrenching Sade our of the prince’s grasp. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“I- I died.” Sade stammered. “I died killing Alduin- like I was supposed to.”

“Yes, and it was such a noble sacrifice, we’re all so proud of you.” There’s obvious sarcasm in the prince’s voice as she rolls her eyes, a raven croaking unhappily. “Unfortunately, Nightingale, we can’t allow you to die.”

Sade feels her heart stop- if it ever started in the beginning. 

“What?”

“We’re at a... let’s put it at a standstill.” Nocturnal smirks, and Sade sweats when she realizes Hircine is right behind the Patron of Thieves. “What on earth were you thinking, giving your soul to so many of us? At least you never promised Hermaeus anything, he can be so selfish with his toys-“

“My lady.” Sade swallows, hand on the hilt of her sword. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t interrupt me, I’m getting there.” Nocturnal snaps, but she’s pushed aside by Namira, the Lady of Rot smiling with rotted and sharp teeth. 

“We’re sending you back to your cold corpse. A shame. You would’ve been a delicious feast.”

“Not your own corpse.” Nocturnal corrects, standing rather huffily to the side. “Namira is rather... confused on who to eat. You were throughly and wholly eaten by Alduin, you idiot.”

“Y’know, if I’m getting my body back, I’m stealing the Skeleton Key.” Sade threatens, but Noctural keeps talking. 

“There’s another body we can give you- it’s injured, but it was close to you and it’ll have to do. Not very befitting of a thief... but it’ll work for a Nightingale.”

“What’re you talking about?” Sade pleads, swinging in a circle to look at all the Daedric Princes staring back at her. “Please- I just want a simple explanation.”

“Your poor body went poof!” Sheogorath chuckles. “Like a scarecrow resembling a late king, up in flames and charred! Namira would be happy, would give someone a delicious crunch! But we can’t keep you here, deary, it just won’t do. We all want a bit of your pretty little soul, but are you worth another Oblivion Crisis?”

“I- what?”

“Azures has already given up her claim on you.” Nocturnal says impatiently. “Molag Bal has simply forgotten about you, Clavicus and Peryite already are entertained enough, and Boethiath has a new Champion every week, you aren’t special, Sade.”

Mehrunes Dagon grabs her and noogies her, and Sade wishes she could say that is the strangest thing to have happen to her, but the scales growing over her armor is taking a strong contender for first. 

“To the Dragonborn!” He cheers, nails digging into her neck. “She’ll be a fine enemy to destroy one day!”

“What’s happening?” Sade says in horror- watching the scales grow out of her armor and layer perfectly like black dominoes, reaching the fingers of her gauntlets and transitioning into much harder scale- bone, apparently. Nails. Talons. Claws. 

Sade has to hold back puking when she realizes she can’t feel her fingers anymore- just the claws. 

Scales have started to grow on the other side of her armor.

“What’s happening?” She demands again, shooting her head up to push away from Mehrunes- he grumbles but lets her get into Noctural’s personal space. “What are you doing to me?”

“Saving you, Nightingale. The least you could do is act grateful.”

Sade goes to retort- but her ribs creak and crack, and she collapses as she’s sent back to the mortal world. 

Sent back to her family.


End file.
